Around 3,000 workers who have been working from home over recent months due to the Coronavirus pandemic could continue to do so on a permanent bases, according to council bosses.

Around half of the 6,000 plus staff that work for Cumbria County Council have taken up the offer to work from home.

It comes as authorities around the UK look to keep workers at home to save costs.

The news that workers could remain at home was revealed in a meeting this week, where councillors questioned executives on what has been learnt during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Councillor Stanley Collins, who represents Upper Kent near Kendal, is concerned that the council is not learning from having to adapt to a very changing workplace.

However Stephen Hall, assistant director for economy and environment, thinks the council has already started learning from the pandemic long before questions were asked.

He said plans are being put in place to see how office and home working will look in the future.

He said: “There is a structure in place here for major incidents - to have a debrief. In this case, it will enable us to embed the lessons learnt now.

“Even now within the council, we can see how some key areas of service can be improved, so it won’t mean it’s business as usual. Things like travel post-covid, we can predict now - that we won’t need to drive as much and have as large a carbon footprint as before. We will also accelerate decisions on how we use all our buildings.”

Recently the council said that anyone who can work from home is being advised to continue to do so.

For those that need to be out of the home such as firefighters, social workers, highways officers – they will continue to work in the normal way but may have different hours, the council has said.

All office based staff who do not need to be an office, are currently still advised to work from home.